It was a shock turnaround but it is believed the UAP would have bypassed some party registration requirements by recruiting a sitting member of parliament.

The UAP has not yet been formally registered as a party with the Australian Electoral Commission, but claims to have "thousands of members".

It was last night unclear how many of them had been involved in cancelling Mr Slipper's membership.

There was no sign of what was to come earlier in the day when the independent Member for Fisher appeared to have had his application rubber-stamped.

Mr Palmer, billionaire mining magnate and owner of Palmer Coolum Resort, had told the Daily he didn't personally approach Mr Slipper to join the party and was taken by surprise when his application was received.

"I'm just completely neutral about it, it's a bit of a shock," he said.